1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic musical instruments capable of generating the tones of ad-lib melodies while the instrument is played.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years there have been developed electronic musical instruments provided with some functions that can be used with pleasure even by the inexperienced in musical instruments. One of such functions is that additional tones are automatically generated according to the tones actually played by a player so as to enhance the played musical tones. Examples of this type of function include automatic accompaniment function, by which chords and rhythm are automatically added to a melody played by a player, and ad-lib function, by which a melody having a smaller number of musical notes is additionally given fine grace notes.
The ad-lib function in general is exercised through the steps of reading previously stored ad-lib melody data according to the rhythm involved while the instrument is played, transposing the data so as to match the tune of the playing, and generating the resulting tones. With conventional ad-lib devices, however, since melody data is read starting with the leading head thereof each time ad-lib function is initiated, the resulting ad-lib performance may sound monotonous.